seared scallops and brown butter sauce, two ways

The first time I had fried New England seafood, I was probably around five. It was at Ronnie’s, a little shack of a restaurant with a neighboring ice cream shop in Auburn, MA. Auburn is one those Central Mass towns you drive through wondering if you’re watching the world pass through the Instagram “1977” filter. Let me tell you a little bit about it: there’s a shopping mall, an envelope factory, and a semi-famous nut company, just to keep things interesting. Surprisingly, there is no Walmart. It’s also the town where my mother spent many of her years growing up and where my maternal grandparents still reside. It’s very much landlocked. It screams $0.99 deal at the local Arby’s on Southbridge Street, not fresh seafood.

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